Spotted Knapweed, aggresive alien species of the Northwest . . . (Centaurea maculata)

If ever a plant deserved to be called Rattlesnake weed, this is it!  I'll never forget trekking day after
day through overgrazed grassland east of the Northern Cascades, on foot with a heavy pack, and seeing
nothing but hard, bare ground, knapweed and Rattlesnake tracks. Once a weed establishes itself
on such a lerge scale, it is very difficult to bring back the native species.




(Photograph was made Saturday, the 6th of July, 2002)